Dear reader,

As you read my finalized paper, I’d like you to take a mental note of a few things that I may have changed from my previous draft. My thesis is, “Opposed to Don Vito’s path, Michael Corleone’s new direction with the family business and towards his rivals will create a pooled hatred that will lead to Michael Corleone’s demise.” The main difference between this thesis and my previous thesis is not the content of the thesis itself, but the few words of clarity that I have provided after my thesis in my revised essay. I felt that in my previous thesis, I made an arguable claim, but I left the claim at somewhat of a dead end. In this final draft, I shed just a little more light on what I tried to get across to the reader. What I am most pleased with in this revision is the addition of significant comparisons between Don Vito and Michael Corleone, as they are two totally different characters with different tactics in leadership. I feel that the comparisons vividly show that Don Vito is an effective Machiavellian leader, who according to Machiavelli, should remain safe and prosperous; Michael, while also an effective leader, uses more aggressive and hasty tactics to take care of his matters. The most difficult task in my revision process was including enough of an analysis towards some claims I have made. Even though I feel this draft is improved, I feel that I still drag out evidence for a bit too long during some sections of the essay. I hope that you find this essay as persuasive as I found it interesting to write.

Thanks for reading,
Mike Guzman
Michael Guzman March 2011
Professor Chalk Final Draft: Paper #2

A Cold King of Hearts

The word “love” brings several unique meanings to the mind. To an individual, love is a jovial feeling upon seeing someone who is cared for. To others, love is a distinctive emotion felt when someone else’s happiness is unconditionally essential to that person’s own happiness. According to Machiavelli, love is a component of trust that can be broken if someone feels that they have a chance to “benefit themselves” (Machiavelli 59). While Machiavelli says “…it is much safer to be feared than loved”, he also states that if a ruler cannot be loved, then “…he should contrive only to avoid incurring hatred…” (Machiavelli 59,61). In The Godfather, Michael Corleone creates a new face for his family – one that is fearless, ruthless and unforgiving. Although Michael’s tactics effectively create fear and intimidation, they do not generate any love nor respect. Opposed to Don Vito’s path, Michael Corleone’s new direction with the family business and towards his rivals will create a pooled hatred that will lead to Michael Corleone’s demise. Vito’s morals for respect, and Vito’s “fox” like characteristics get him to the top, but Michael’s quick temper, hastiness in planning, and unforgiving methods will lead to his own downfall.
Machiavelli’s The Prince is a useful tool in understanding certain concepts of the film. Many of Machiavelli’s main ideas tie in nicely to certain themes of The Godfather. The main obstacle with Machiavelli’s views is that, when he speaks of a leader, he envisions a single leader ruling a presumably large group of common people. The film has different expressions of leadership that, at times, are difficult to compare to a much older era of leadership and ruling, as one is confined to a somewhat narrow scope.
Machiavelli, for example, says that leaders are most safe when people fear them. Inspiring fear represents the ideal means of rising to power, the controlling of business, and accumulating wealth. Don Vito Corleone portrays an exemplary Machiavellian leader. In the beginning scenes of The Godfather, Mr. Amerigo Bonasera asks Don Vito for a violent favor after Bonasera’s daughter has been beaten to two men. Don Vito calmly rises from his desk, and with an almost saddened tone of voice, states that Mr. Bonasera did not display proper respect towards the Godfather. Vito’s intimidating and powerful aura strikes a bit of fear into Bonasera. After a short discussion, Vito makes a counter offer that Bonasera accepts. The Don says that one day, he may or may not call upon Bonasera to carry out a favor for him. Bonasera seemingly has no problem with this, out of the love and fear he has for Don Vito.
Don Vito is a man of respect, patience, and experience. Throughout the film, Vito acts as the epitome of a Machiavellian leader. For instance, the Don holds a meeting with the drug lord Sollozzo, who is backed by the Tattaglia family. During this meeting, Vito declines Sollozzo’s narcotics deal, and Sollozzo leaves disappointed. Vito then asks a trusted enforcer, Luca Brasi, to infiltrate Sollozzo’s organization and come back with useful information. Machiavelli would be quick to approve of Vito’s move. First, Vito did not decide to spy on Sollozzo and the Tattaglias himself, he sent a trusted individual to do his work for him. Second, Vito’s attempt to gain knowledge and the upper hand for his business by using a spy would have been significantly advantageous. Machiavelli feels that, “If a ruler who always wants to act honorably is surrounded by many unscrupulous men his downfall is inevitable. Therefore, a ruler who wishes to maintain his power must be prepared to act immorally when this becomes necessary” (Machiavelli 54,55). Because Brasi has fear and love for Vito, Vito does not worry about Brasi betraying him, if Brasi succeeded.
Vito also uses a more discrete form of deceit. In another scene after Sonny Corleone’s death, Vito calls for a meeting with the heads of five families. With grief, Vito states that that he has lost a son and wishes no more hostility and bloodshed between the Corleone’s and the Tattaglias. In return for the cease-fire, the Corleone’s will provide political protection for Tattaglias drug operations. Unbeknown to any of the other dons, Vito using this meeting as an opportunity to observe his enemies more closely. He listens to what they all have to say and then deduces a conclusion that the Barzini family was behind the bloodshed of Sonny’s death, not the Tattaglia family. At the same meeting, Vito also says that he will never break the peace made at that meeting; he never says anything about anyone else in his family acting against another mob family in the future.
Michael Corleone, on the other hand, portrays a much more aggressive and callous Machiavellian leader. In the film, Michael uses violent, pitiless methods to gain information and to take care of his business affairs. Being unnecessarily cruel leads to being hated, and according to Machiavelli, being hated is very unsafe for a leader. When one examines Michael Corleone through the perspective of Machiavelli, one can infer that Michael will end up going down a road that leads to his downfall. Michael Corleone perfectly fits Machiavelli’s definition of a “lion” when it comes to leadership; he is very bold and a bit rash. Machiavelli says, “Those who rely merely upon a lion’s strength do not understand matters” (Machiavelli 61). This statement is mostly accurate, as it conveys a momentous scene during the film. After Don Vito Corleone dies, Michael is at liberty to complete his business as he pleases. During the film, one notices that Michael never personally partakes in any assassination, which is a very Machiavellian thing to do. Instead, he orders several Corleone soldiers to carry out the assassinations of the four main rival Dons, and Moe Greene. The order for this mass assassination keeps Michael out of immediate danger, and it makes his life a little safer in the long run. Taking Moe Greene and the Dons out of the picture effectively stirs up fear and disorganization among the ranks of the rival soldiers, but it could also start to stir up hatred towards the Corleone family leader. To be hated, Machiavelli’s perspective is one of the worst things that can happen to a person, but if that person is a hated leader, then they are in serious trouble. Machiavelli warns, “… A ruler … should avoid anything that will make him either hated or despised” (Machiavelli 63). Although Michael Corleone seems to make cold but calculated plans, he appears to be as hasty as he is harsh. Machiavelli considers being “inconstant, frivolous, effeminate, pusillanimous and irresolute” should be completely avoided in order to not be “despised” (Machiavelli 64). Michael is likely to slip up in the future due to his unpredictability and his brash nature. If this happens, people may start to distrust him as an efficacious leader, and try to take advantage of him, or even overthrow him. People don’t like to be deceived. Although Michael is a deceitful person himself, he has no mercy towards those who deceive him. During one of the later scenes in the film, Michael briefly meets with his brother-in-law, Carlo. For Michael, the point of the meeting was to have Carlo admit he was responsible for the death of Michael’s brother, Sonny. Through lies, deceit, and the false assurance of safety, Michael’s bluff gets Carlo to talk. Michael ends the meeting, and eventually takes a casual walk outside just in time to see Carlo garroted. Not only was Carlo’s death planned the whole time, Michael watches him die as if Carlo was any other enemy to the family. Michael seemingly does not care that Carlo was his sister’s husband, and that he is the godfather to their baby. This scene vividly shows that when it comes to business and family matters, Michael does not care who is in his way. He will scheme to achieve his goals. He then lies to his wife when she confronts him about killing Carlo, saying no, he did not kill him. Machiavelli sees no problem with lying in order to maintain power, and he actually recommends it when he says, “Therefore, a ruler who wishes to maintain power must be prepared to act immorally when this becomes necessary” (Machiavelli 55).
Michael’s problem here is that Carlo acted against a member of his own family as a form of revenge, instead of using Carlo’s fear to his own benefit. This scene contrasts with an earlier scene where Don Vito makes an “offer” to Jack Woltz. Instead of intimidating Woltz into giving Fontaine a role in his movie by having Woltz physically hurt, Vito has someone behead Woltz’s prized horse, and place the head into bed with him. Woltz wakes up in absolute horror, and the horror created in that scene not only convinces Woltz to give Fontaine the role in the movie, it also allows for the possibility of a future business deal in whatever interests Vito with Woltz. Fear, instead of hate, was created. Let us pretend that Michael was in charge. Fontaine then asks Michael to help him out by getting him a role in Woltz movie. Tom Hagen brings home the bad news, and Michael is not pleased. Michael would send a small group of men to either physically beat Woltz up until he begged them to stop, or have them shoot up his house to scare the wits out of Woltz. Both methods would definitely create fear, like Vito did. The difference is that Michael’s methods, although they are conjectural, would create a by-product of hate that could possibly be passed onto Fontaine. In The Godfather, it seems that the ones who are powerful or who have powerful friends are the ones with a lot of wealth. Woltz, as rich and quick tempered as he is, seems like the type that would be quick to commit some kind of sly revenge act upon Fontaine and say that there has been a severe “stage accident”. Judging from the aversion towards the upbringing of Fontaine during the dinner with Tom Hagen, Woltz will most likely not pass up that chance. As previously stated, Machiavelli believes that “it is desirable to be both loved and feared”, and he realizes the difficulty of achieving both simultaneously (Machiavelli 59). Unlike the unnecessarily harsh path Michael Corleone takes, Don Vito’s path is an ideal Machiavellian way to lead. Don Vito’s methods establish him as a feared but respectable leader. He even has respect for rival families, as seen in the film when it was inferred that he invites Tom Barzini to his daughter’s wedding. Overtime, the fear, love and respect that accumulates during Don Vito’s leadership makes him and his family rich and powerful. From the beginning of Michael Corleone’s rule to the end of the film, it never seems like Michael cares much for being loved. The whole time he was in charge, he was responsible for having people killed and for lying for his own personal gain. Michael’s patience is short, compared to his father’s patience as Michael likes to see results, and quickly.
The component of love can be very valuable to a leader. Love, like trust of reputation, is something that takes time to build. Because Michael is Don Vito’s son, business, power, family reputation, and trust from the rest of the family members can all be inherited, but love cannot be inherited. When Don Vito dies, the emotional and personal connections people feel for him went with him, and in no way transfer to his son. Michael appears to have little interest in building up love from a vast amount of people. His cold and emotionless glances in the faces of death and danger are enough to tell any viewer that he is simply a man of business, and he does anything to get what he wants. Acts of cruelty instill fear in those who stand against Michael Corleone, but the road that he walks now may lead him to take a dangerous turn towards acts of greed, distrust, and dishonor. These traits lead to hatred, and hatred leads to the downfall of a leader.

Works Cited

Coppola, Francis F., Dir. The Godfather. Perf. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino. Paramount Pictures:
1972, Film.

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. 20 Ed. Geuss, Raymond. Skinner, QuentinCambridge
University Press, 2007. Print.